30 Days Of Yoga

- My Experience -

For the last month, I have managed to do yoga pretty much every day. I followed the ‘Dedicate’ 30 Day Yoga Journey from Adriene on youtube and I absolutely loved it. There have been a couple of days where I didn’t manage to do it as I had friends and family over at my place but I went through the 30 days and it felt great. I always do it first thing in the morning as I feel like it sets good intentions for the day. It isn’t always easy to get into it and find the right mindset to breathe in and out for 20 minutes, but when you reach the end you feel way better most of the time. So here is my experience and some things I have learnt during this journey.

Breathing can be harder than you think. I really need to focus on the voice telling me when and how to breathe otherwise I am lost and I breathe like a hectic dog or not at all. It is hard to move your body according to your breath and not the way around.

Reflecting on where I am at. I don’t want to lie and say that I always felt super duper great after each practice because sometimes you just think about your whole life and it can get scary. You know when your future just seems so far away and so close at the same time and you just don’t know where you belong anymore?! Well, I had a couple of times where I just felt overwhelmed by what is yet to come.

It’s bloody hard to stay focused. Just like with the breathing part, I think that these two go hand in hand. As soon as you don’t focus on your breath anymore, you focus on every other thing in your life; ‘what do I have to do today?’, ‘what am I going to have for dinner tonight?’, ‘why is Ryan Gosling not my boyfriend?’ … I still find myself overthinking way too much and it is for sure something to work on in the future. The best flows I had, have been the ones where the focus was on the breathing and how my body felt in each posture.

How is it possible to be so stiff? I am far from being a flexible person, reaching my toes is an impossible task. My body is really stiff, especially at the beginning of each practice just after waking up. But a few downward facing dogs and forward falls later, it gets easier and I find myself being more flexible. Even after this month, everything feels already a bit easier and natural. Stretching your body just after getting up is the best feeling ever!

Listening to your body is essential. One thing I have learnt during this journey is definitely that you can’t force your body to do something it just can’t do. If you can’t reach your toes, that’s fine, maybe one day you will but for now *breaaaatheeee*. When you can’t do something, don’t focus on that part, think that you are a queen and make the pose feel good in your own way. Get creative and have fun.

Uttanasana, Utkatasana,… What? Yoga doesn’t have to be that spiritual thing that only yogis living in India do – like we often still believe. It is more than meditation and breathing. It has been a really good way to start the day and helped me to feel fresh and more energised even after a 20-minute practice. It is a way to move your body and have fun. Adriene really makes it so accessible and easy to follow even when you are a beginner and have never done yoga before I am sure that you would enjoy it.

Have you ever tried yoga or are you regularly practising? This time I really want to get into it and stick to it as it makes me feel so good and more in tune with my own body.